The Yellow & Blue emphasized the importance of playing more of the second-half type of play that led to the victory. Sfairopoulos: “I’m happy we captured the victory with effort and fighting spirit”
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv’s return to Menora Mivtachim Arena after a month of road games wasn’t perfect, but a dominant second half led to an 85:76 comeback victory over Hapoel Haifa. The Yellow & Blue stopped the Reds to 22 points in the second half while scoring 46 points with the help of Scottie Wilbekin, who scored a night-high 25 points.
After sitting a month out due to a back-thigh injury, Omri Casspi opened in Giannis Sfairopoulos’s starting five and finished the evening with 5 points, 2 rebounds, and an assist in 16 minutes of play. Elijah Bryant contributed 15 points and 3 assists, while Ante Zizic added 14 points and 5 rebounds.
“We didn’t start the game as well as we didn’t follow our game plan allowing our opponent to score 54 first-half points with great percentages from the field”, Explained head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos about the first half. “Our defense was very soft, and also offensively, we missed open shots, which led to a slow start to the game, and this made our life more difficult”.
“I told the players at halftime to follow the plan, and they did just that, giving up only 11 points in each of the two remaining quarters. After the excellent defense, we scored 47 points, and this is the way we want to play all of our games. We need to solve our slow starts and be more stable throughout the whole contest. I’m happy we captured the victory with effort and fighting spirit, returning from 15 points down at home”.
“We let them get too comfortable in the first half, and when you let a team feel comfortable here, they receive a lot of confidence”, Summed T.J Cline, who finished the evening with 9 points. “Coach lit a fire under us at halftime, and we responded really well, showing up in the second half allowing only 22 second-half points. If we can get that to a full game, we will be really tough to beat”.
About the slow start to the game: “It’s human nature to respond when you get hit in the mouth. We have a very motivated group, but sometimes we low-end the games, and we need that punch in the face to wake us up. It comes from the mindset coming into the game, basketball is a game of runs, and they shot really well in the first half. But in the second half, we got that defense going from the beginning”.
